![\"Partou](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/1_Screenshot-2026-02-02-170116.png\")
<\/p>\nEight sites under the management of provider Partou in Bristol have been the subject of actions by Ofsted in the last five years<\/p>\n
16:20, 09 Feb 2026Updated 16:28, 09 Feb 2026<\/p>\n
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Partou King Street Day Nursery & Pre-school(Image: Google Maps)<\/p>\n
The operators of the nursery that employed convicted rapist and paedophile Nathan Bennett<\/a> have expressed their shock and sorrow at the harm he inflicted on children on their watch.<\/p>\n On Monday (February 9) Bennett was convicted of eight charges, including rape, sexual assault and assault by penetration, relating to five children aged two or three at the Partou King Street nursery in Bristol.<\/p>\n The 30-year-old previously admitted to 13 other charges relating to four of the five victims, who were aged two at the time.<\/p>\n A spokesperson for Partou, which operates 106 nurseries in the UK, said they were distressed by the extent of Bennett’s depravity.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have been shocked and distressed by the upsetting details that have emerged over the past several days about Nathan Bennett\u2019s appalling crimes, for which he has now been found guilty on all counts and will face justice,\u201d the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n \u201cOur primary concern from the moment we became aware of the offences has been for the children involved and their families. They have been provided with independent, specialist support, and this support is ongoing.<\/p>\n \u201cMeanwhile we have provided every assistance and cooperation to the investigating authorities in the conduct of their important work.\u201d<\/p>\n However, questions remain about Partou\u2019s processes both at the King Street nursery where Bennett carried out his vile acts against vulnerable young children and other locations managed by the group in the Bristol area.<\/p>\n Nathan Bennett(Image: Avon and Somerset Police)<\/p>\n A total of eight sites under Partou\u2019s management in and around Bristol have been the subject of actions by regulator Ofsted in the past five years over concerns over children\u2019s wellbeing.<\/p>\n The King Street Day Nursery and Pre-School closed down after Bennett\u2019s activities came to light, but Partou still runs 11 nurseries in the Bristol area.<\/p>\n The incidents under investigation ranged from inadequate health and safety measures to concerns some nurseries did not employ enough staff to properly monitor children in their care.<\/p>\n The most recent occurred at Partou\u2019s Kingsway nursery in November last year. The management of that nursery reported themselves to the regulator, which warned they needed to do more to ensure staff working with babies received adequate training.<\/p>\n After issuing a concerns notice, Ofsted inspectors said they were happy the nursery had taken steps to address the problem.<\/p>\n In May, the management of Partou\u2019s Hawkesbury Road nursery in Fishponds \u201cimplemented procedures for staff to monitor the whereabouts of children\u201d after the regulator found the nursery was not meeting some requirements regarding staff to children ratios.<\/p>\n In November 2024, the Little Big Steps nursery in Knowle<\/a> had its licence temporarily suspended due to safeguarding concerns<\/a>.<\/p>\n Some of the incidents at the eight nurseries occurred prior to the foundation of Partou UK in 2024, which occurred after the merger of two nursery groups, Just Childcare and All About Children.<\/p>\n It is part of the Partou Group which also operates in the Netherlands and Germany. First established in the Netherlands in 1975, Partou is now that country\u2019s largest childcare organisation.<\/p>\n In the wake of Bennett\u2019s conviction, families of the children involved issued a powerful statement calling for accountability from Partou.<\/p>\n \u201cWe want answers,\u201d the group of families said via their law firm Leigh Day. \u201cWe want to understand how someone like Nathan Bennett was able to work with young children, what checks were made, and how the safeguarding systems in place at Partou King Street nursery failed so catastrophically. There are deep concerns among families that management and supervision did not protect children, and that this allowed the abuse to continue.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe hope that, as well as securing justice through the criminal process, the wider issues around safeguarding and protection at the nursery will be properly reviewed so that nothing like this can ever happen again. The children deserve that, and so do all families who entrust their children to nurseries every day.\u201d<\/p>\n The Partou spokesperson said the company had improved its processes following an independent review.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have robust safeguarding policies and practices in place at Partou, which have been followed throughout. In response to the incident, we commissioned an independent review to identify any vulnerabilities and we have further strengthened our approach to safeguarding all children in our care in line with the recommendations made.<\/p>\n \u201cWe will be engaging with the sector and government to pursue co-ordinated initiatives to ensure that children in all nursery settings are safe.\u201d<\/p>\n The enforcement powers available to Ofsted against providers range from cancelling registrations to demanding providers come up with plans they must take to address concerns. Urgent action is reserved for cases where there is a ‘reasonable belief that a child or children may be at risk of harm’.<\/p>\n A spokesperson for Ofsted said the regulator welcomed Bennett\u2019s guilty verdict, but did not confirm if there were wider concerns about Partou as an education provider for very young children.<\/p>\n \u201cOur thoughts are with the children and families affected by Nathan Bennett\u2019s horrific crimes,\u201d the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is appalling to hear of any child coming to harm by an individual who was meant to keep them safe. We worked closely with the police and local authority throughout their investigations and we welcome today\u2019s verdict.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Eight sites under the management of provider Partou in Bristol have been the subject of actions by Ofsted…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":742452,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8818],"tags":[381,748,30,188,2266,393,12716,4884,16656,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-754334","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-bristol","8":"tag-bristol","9":"tag-britain","10":"tag-courts","11":"tag-crime","12":"tag-education","13":"tag-england","14":"tag-fishponds","15":"tag-great-britain","16":"tag-knowle","17":"tag-uk","18":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116044832814778209","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/754334","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=754334"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/754334\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/742452"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=754334"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=754334"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=754334"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Nathan](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/1_AD_09-02-2026_nathanbennett.jpg\")
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